The refuge of an adventurer

The Abbey in Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire, has eight bedrooms and is on the market for £4.25 million through Savills and Knight Frank

Despite its name, the Abbey is thought never to have been an ecclesiastical building. The grade II listed house in the village of Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire, was built on land once owned by the abbots of St Albans (until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1500s, when the land was confiscated by Henry VIII). The property in its present form was largely built in the 1800s.

Facilities include a swimming pool, games room and an all-weather tennis court

Previous owners of the Abbey include Sir James Clark Ross, the 19th-century polar explorer, who was buried in the village churchyard after his death in 1862. Years later, during the Second World War, the house became a refuge for Edvard Benes, the exiled president of Czechoslovakia. The present owner works in the property industry and feels that the…

Want to read more?

Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month.